Railway versus Haldwani or is it again Hindu versus Muslim?

Thousands of people in Uttarakhand's Haldwani have taken to the streets in a bid to protect their homes after they were served eviction notices based on a high court order.

Now, more than 4,000 families, of whom the majority are Muslims, living in unauthorised colonies near Haldwani Railway Station face the threat of being removed from their homes. The protesters say the removal of encroachments will render them homeless and jeopardise the future of their school-going children.

The Supreme Court will on Thursday hear a petition challenging the Uttarakhand High Court's order to vacate 29 acres of railway land in Haldwani as residents of the 4,000-odd home continue to protest, pray, and beseech officials not to go ahead with the demolition.

Users across Social Media Platforms have diverse views in relation to the matter. Some are in favour while others are opposing this move. We have taken excerpts of two polar opposite views on this. For this purpose we have gone through article some of the bi polar opposite views. We’ve left it on our users to decide on their views. 

Right-Wing Media Outlet OpIndia supported the decision of the Government and observed in their ground investigation  "Due to the outrage on social media and the coverage in national media, we expected the place to be simmering with tension. However, contrary to the media reports the situation in Haldwani felt quite normal. There was vibrant activity in the markets and people were busy with their daily activities. Apart from the rest of the areas, Banbhoolpura area, which witnessed the protests by the illegal encroachers this week, also looked completely calm.“

At the end of the article the article of the OpIndia mentioned “Along with finding out the truth about the protests, our team will also try and go to the bottom of the ‘Muslims in India under attack’ narrative that is being peddled. We will also try and find out who all are supporting these protests, both local as well as outsiders. The crowd that is being shown on social media as the affected people, we will try and find out who they are.”

In another article OpIndia categorically iterated the term “Illegal Encroachment”. 

Moving to the left political spectrum, media outlet The Wire made slew of observations “the demolition drive is politically motivated, aimed at changing the demography of the region to benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), where it has failed so far to make electoral gains”

“......That the railway has no evidence to claim this land as its own and the parties have not substantiated their claims of ownership”

“the estate officer, allegedly without referring to any sources, stated that the land belonged to the NER and that the occupants were illegal encroachers who had to be removed. Based on this report, fresh eviction notices were issued to the people of Banbhoolpura, but now, these notices were sent to people residing on 78 acres of land, rather than the 29 acres that the NER had twice claimed in court. No substantive evidence of ownership of either the 29 acres or the later claim of 78 acres was provided by the NER in court.”

Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Harish Rawat held an hour-long 'maun vrat' (vow of silence) at his home in state capital Dehradun. "Uttarakhand is a spiritual state," he said, "If 50,000 people including children, pregnant women, old men and women are forced to vacate their homes and come out on roads, then it would be a very sad sight."